Biographical Traditions in European Countries and the USA During the Modern and Contemporary Times

The article investigates the process of formation of modern direction in historical researches – biographical studies. In particular, attention is focused on the development of a biographical genre in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. The biographical genre is being considered in the context of various historical processes during the modern and contemporary times. The research is dedicated to the substantiation of the interconnection between socio-cultural reality, which formed certain norms and value orientations in Western societies. On the example of listed countries, the author demonstrates that the culture of creating biographies has both common and distinct roots of origin in different historical and social conditions. Biographical research in this context serves as an indicator of social values and their changes. In order to demonstrate the interrelation of social norms with the promotion of certain personalities through their biographies author turn to the historical roots of the development of this genre. Also it allows revealing the theoretical and methodological approaches to writing biographies.The article traces the connection between the value orientations of different categories of the population and the formation of their heroes and antiheroes. In this direction journalistic investigations played an important role in various countries of Europe and the United States. These investigations have been and continue to influence the public opinion, describing the lifestyle of different individuals in the past and present. In the article also assumes the existence of a phenomenon of a broad “biographical culture” within which developed specialized academic fields of research.